REVIEW: Heart of Danger by Lisa Marie Rice

While there’s that bit of paranormal throughout this first book in Lisa Marie Rice’s new series, it’s still the suspense that takes center stage. Something she does so very well, along with heart-pounding action, gratifying sex scenes, and a hero who is physically flawed and so very noble you just have to love him.

Dr. Catherine Young is after a ghost. A man who disappeared after he and his men were betrayed by their commanding officer. Most of the team was killed, only a few survived. They now take refuge in the heart of a mountain where they’ve built their own self-contained city. Tom McEnroe is their leader, and when Catherine gets too close for comfort to their hideaway, it’s up to him to find out what she knows and then what to do with her afterward.

Not realizing she’s found her man, Catherine is at first a little frightened of this huge warrior who interrogates her. But as she becomes integrated in this amazing hidden community, she eventually knows Mac is the one her mysterious patient needs her to find. She’s fascinated with this charismatic leader who causes her heart to flutter. As more information comes to light, the pieces of the puzzle for both of them begin to come together and their next mission becomes clear.

The villain in this book is greedy, on a power trip of epic proportions. His experiments on the strongest of men are horrible, and I couldn’t wait for Mac and his team to take the asshole down. The action during that mission near the end is fast paced and intense. All those little scientific extras due to the story’s venue in the future adds more to the excitement of the process of the inevitable take-down.

Mac and Catherine are the typical Lisa Marie Rice couple. He’s the strong military man; scared, so therefore not particularly handsome; the need to protect ingrained. She’s the intelligent, independent woman who thinks fast on her feet and doesn’t back down, no matter what. The chemistry between them is there from the beginning, even before they realize it. I like how Ms. Rice can draw that dichotomy in a hero with his tough, rough exterior and his oh-so-gentle side he never knew he had when it comes to the heroine, even when he loses control.

As usual I enjoyed this story a lot. I’m looking forward to others in this new series. Besides all that hot lovin’ and action going on, there’s now new technology that’s a lot of fun for not only the characters but the reader as well.

Grade: B+

Summary:

Ghost Ops. A small unit of super-elite soldiers so secret only two men know of their existence. Betrayed by their commanding officer while on an anti-terrorist mission, the team is massacred. Only three survive—and find themselves framed and disgraced. But en route to the court martial, they escape . . . and disappear.

Beautiful, brilliant, and determined, Dr. Catherine Young is on a mission to find a man who has vanished into thin air. Walking into a high-tech hideaway bearing an essential message to Tom “Mac” McEnroe, Team Leader of the betrayed Ghost Ops force, is the most dangerous thing she has ever done. The soldier she encounters is frightening and suspicious, but her senses reveal the man underneath: tough, honorable, and so breathtakingly masculine Catherine feels weak in his presence . . . But to surrender to Mac’s passionate desires would put her life in dire jeopardy. Catherine has a gift that enables her to see into the heart of others—and looking into Mac’s is like staring into the very heart of danger itself.